Those big bil­lion-dol­lar PhI­II stud­ies? Mar­tin Lan­dray says they can be done for a tiny frac­tion of the cost

Martin Landray, Protas CEO (Illustration: Assistant Editor Kathy Wong for Endpoints News)
August 18, 2022 10:00 AM EDT
R&D
In Focus

Mar­tin Lan­dray knows what con­tro­ver­sy in clin­i­cal drug de­vel­op­ment feels like, from first-hand ex­pe­ri­ence.

Lan­dray was the chief ar­chi­tect of RE­COV­ERY, a study that pit­ted a va­ri­ety of drugs against Covid-19. And he of­fered some land­mark da­ta that would help push dex­am­etha­sone out in­to broad­er use as a cheap treat­ment, while help­ing ice hy­droxy’s rep­u­ta­tion as a clear mis­fire.

“Lots of peo­ple told us we shouldn’t use it,” Lan­dray says about dex­am­etha­sone and Covid-19. “It was dan­ger­ous. We shouldn’t even do a tri­al. They al­so cared about hy­drox­y­chloro­quine and lots of peo­ple said we shouldn’t do a tri­al be­cause it must be used. I’ve got the let­ters from both sets of peo­ple.”

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